Consumer Behavior

Payday, routines, fatigue, and other patterns invented from noise.

• Dry January is suppressing impulse purchases across every category.

  Sober people read reviews first.

  In effect New Year's Day (9d after)

• Discretionary spend is being converted directly into explosives.

  In effect July 4th (4d before through 1d after)

• October households budget for candy, costumes, and decor before anything else.

  Your product is competing with a twelve-foot skeleton.

  In effect Oct

• The candy budget just displaced your product from the consideration set.

  In effect 10-20 to 10-31

• Consumers are saving their money for Black Friday.

  Your full-price offer is competing with a discount that does not exist yet.

  In effect 10-16 to 10-31

• Shoppers are in wishlist mode.

  Add to carts are up. Purchases are theoretical.

  In effect 10-16 to 10-31

• Consumers have seen 4,000 discounts in 96 hours.

  Yours is the 4,001st and it shows.

  In effect Cyber Monday

• People just got paid, and they are spending it on anything but you.

  Rent, groceries, one concert ticket, a small betrayal.

  In effect day 1/15

• It's the week before payday. Carts are full, courage is not.

  Wishlisting is up. Checkout is a theoretical exercise until the direct deposit lands.

  In effect day 8/9/10/11/12/13/14/25/26/27/28/29/30/31

• The payday splurge already happened, and it was not with you.

  Money moves fast in the first 24 hours. Yours was not in the running.

  In effect day 2/16

• It is somebody's payday Friday, just never your audience's.

  In effect Fridays

• Purchases are decided in group chats now, and you are not in the group chat.

  Fourteen messages, one screenshot, and a verdict your attribution will never see.

  In effect always in effect

• Comparison shopping has become the purchase itself.

  Eleven tabs, three spreadsheets, zero orders. The research is the hobby now.

  In effect always in effect

• Cart abandonment is no longer a funnel stage. It is a lifestyle.

  The cart is a mood board with a checkout button nobody plans to press.

  In effect always in effect

• Browser tabs are where purchases go to be dreamed about.

  Tab 47 is your product page. It has been open since March.

  In effect always in effect

• People are sleeping on it, indefinitely.

  The average sleep-on-it period now exceeds the product's lifecycle.

  In effect always in effect

• People screenshot products now instead of buying them.

  The camera roll is the new wishlist, and it is a graveyard.

  In effect always in effect

• Purchase intent peaks at 11 PM and is gone by morning.

  Overnight cart mortality approaches total. This is known.

  In effect always in effect

• Consumers are tired.

  Of what? Everything. Mostly of being marketed to.

  In effect always in effect

• Subscription fatigue has hardened into subscription refusal.

  In effect always in effect

• Consumers hit their daily decision limit before your ad loaded.

  They chose an outfit, a breakfast, a route, and a podcast. There is nothing left.

  In effect always in effect

• Doomscrolling is absorbing every session you paid for.

  Thumbs are moving. Wallets are not.

  In effect always in effect

• Push notification fatigue has turned every phone into a rejection machine.

  In effect always in effect

• Loyalty programs have exhausted the concept of loyalty.

  In effect always in effect

• Your email arrived during a mass unsubscribe mood.

  Inbox cleansing is a seasonal ritual with no fixed season.

  In effect always in effect

• Everyone is waiting for a sale they are certain is coming.

  You trained them to wait. This is, structurally speaking, your fault.

  In effect always in effect

• Shoppers remember the price from your last sale and refuse to unremember it.

  In effect always in effect

• Dupe culture means every consideration ends at a cheaper version of you.

  The comment section has already found it, linked it, and reviewed it.

  In effect always in effect

• The buy-nothing movement is recruiting directly from your retargeting pool.

  In effect always in effect

• A popular podcast told everyone to audit their spending this week.

  It happens every week. It is always a different podcast.

  In effect always in effect

• A single three-star review is outweighing your entire funnel.

  It mentions shipping. It is from 2022. It is decisive.

  In effect always in effect

• Attention is fully allocated through the end of the fiscal year.

  Your impression technically occurred.

  In effect always in effect

• No-spend January is a coordinated national boycott of discretionary joy.

  In effect Jan

• Everyone's December credit card statement just arrived.

  January conversion is a hostage of December's decisions.

  In effect Jan

• Back-to-school spending has first claim on every household budget.

  In effect Aug

• Gift-buying brain has crowded out self-purchase entirely.

  Everyone is shopping for people they love, or at least owe.

  In effect Nov, Dec

• Weekend browsing is a leisure activity with no checkout obligations.

  In effect Sundays, Saturdays

• Fresh-start frugality kicks in every Monday morning.

  In effect Mondays

• Sunday reset culture means everyone is cleaning, not converting.

  In effect Sundays